1943-1946

Ivan Mellor was drafted into World War II in 1943 at the age of 19.  When he returned, the year was 1946.  He was part of the 13th Armored Division, commanded by General George S. Patton.  When he got a letter in the mail asking him to join in the war, his father wanted him to stay home, but he did not feel right staying home while all of his friends went to war.  Here are some of the stories he told.

 “In the hospitals, there were foot pumps to help the people that were wounded to breath.  We would sit on a chair for hours pumping the foot pumps to help the people.”

“Whenever a vehicle was driving down a road, there would be eight or so men in front of the vehicles on their hands and knees probing  the ground with their bayonets looking for mines.  When a person found a mine, all of the vehicles would go around the mine. Most of the time, there was not any other way around the mine, so the men had to dig it up.”

Sometimes, A vehicle would run over a mine.  When a vehicle went over a mine, it was blown apart

 “One day as we were marching along, we crossed a bridge.  After all of the men were across, the Nazis bombed it.  All of the vehicles had to find another way across the river.”

“We were on our way to sail out to Austria, when we got word that the war was over.”